Weather Keeps Icy Grip On Area

Winds as strong as 50 mph blew freezing rain across Hampton Roads on Wednesday, forcing most schools to close, causing two traffic deaths and knocking out electricity in thousands of homes.

A powerful nor'easter covered roads with a slick sheet of ice that was blamed for two fatal accidents, both in south Hampton Roads. Flooding was reported along the coast with tides three to four feet above normal.

Terry Ritter, a forecaster for the National Weather Service in Norfolk, said winds between 30 and 50 mph combined with subfreezing temperatures and two-tenths of an inch of rain to cause the conditions.

Ritter said rain is expected to taper off early today and the temperature will climb to 40.

The Mathews County school system was the only one open on the Middle Peninsula on Wednesday, as icy roads in the early morning forced all other area divisions to cancel school.

For a second day in a row, there was no school in Gloucester, Middlesex, King William and King and Queen counties. Also closed was West Point, which like Mathews had braved the stormy weather and stayed open Tuesday.

Robert W. DeRonda, King and Queen school superintendent, said he decided to cancel classes after he talked to the Virginia Department of Transportation at 4:30 a.m. and was told that they could not guarantee the secondary roads would be ice-free.

"Discretion is always the better part of valor when you're putting buses on the roads," DeRonda said.

Mathews Superintendent Harry M. Ward, however, said his buses had not encountered any problems.

Gloucester and Middlesex will have to make up the days they have missed, but King William, King and Queen and West Point each have snow days built into their schedules.

Schools were also closed in Newport News, Hampton and the counties of York and Isle of Wight. Poquoson schools were open, and Williamsburg-James City opened late.

Hampton University and The College of William and Mary were on spring break. Thomas Nelson Community College canceled classes. Christopher Newport College canceled morning classes, but held afternoon and evening classes.

Virginia Power linesmen worked Wednesday to restore electricity to roughly 35,000 customers, toiling mostly to restore power in Norfolk and Chesapeake, the cities hit hardest by the storm.

Nearly 6,000 Peninsula residents suffered power losses as early as 3 a.m., but most had their lights back on by 9 a.m., said Virginia Power spokesman Fred Ellis.

In Williamsburg, a car struck a utility pole in front of the John Yancey Motor Hotel in the 1900 block of Richmond Road about 6 a.m., leaving more than 2,500 Virginia Power customers without electricity for almost two hours, said Bob Ware, area manager for the utility.

In Newport News, several unrelated accidents shortly after 8 a.m. closed the intersection of Jefferson Avenue and Briar field Road.

"We have quite a number of accidents all over Hampton Roads," Sgt. H.L. Jones of the Virginia State Police in Chesapeake said Wednesday morning. State police were calling additional troopers to help handle the backlog, he said.

"All over Hampton Roads, bridges, overpasses and ramps have ice on them, and there are some icy spots on the interstates," he said.

Mark Harold Schleif, 32, of Virginia Beach was killed instantly when his Jeep Renegade, eastbound on Interstate 64, hit an icy patch on an overpass in Norfolk and overturned about 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jones said. Schleif was thrown out of the Jeep, which rolled over on him.

A tow truck driver, struck by an approaching car while he was standing outside his wrecker on the Twin Bridges in Virginia Beach, was killed at 12:20 a.m. Wednesday. Ronald Lee Morton, 31, of Norfolk, died on the way to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, Jones said.